


a great fall (you can put me back together again)

by Anonymous



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Angst, Borderline Sexual Assault, Crazy ex-boyfriend, F/F, Fictionalized Version of Lindsey's Ex, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, aka he's not a great guy but he's not THIS awful, physical assault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:09:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22105333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Refusing to let his relationship with Lindsey go, Lindsey's ex shows up at Emily's apartment in Portland, attacking Emily when he arrives and Lindsey is not there.Emily struggles greatly after this event, but Lindsey is there for her in the aftermath. As Lindsey helps Emily recover, the pair grow closer than ever.
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34
Collections: Anonymous





	1. before

**Author's Note:**

> so this is a little different, and definitely heavy.  
> This is not meant to reflect reality- please keep in mind that this is a fictional story.  
> heed the tags, and please don't read this if you feel it will hurt you.  
> With that said, please enjoy the angst

Everyone saw it. Emily getting her second yellow of the game, Amy’s reaction to that tackle, Lindsey’s well-earned yellow card afterwards. 

Russell saw it too, along with everything said online during and after. Things like, “are we sure Horan and Sonnett aren’t dating?” “Wow, I wish someone would defend me like that,” “That’s some married energy.”  
He couldn’t stand it. How could his Lindsey be so reckless, so protective over that stupid Sonnett bitch? If she had just let Sonnett fight her own battles, no one would be saying all this shit on Twitter.  
And yeah, Lindsey broke up with him (again) last month, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t infuriated by how close her and Sonnett looked. After all, she was still his- she would come back to him soon, she always did.

After that, it seemed the two blondes were closer than ever. Russell was painfully aware of this, seeing their many trips to get avocado toast and movie nights, on their own and with their Australian teammates, documented on Lindsey’s Instagram and Snapchat stories. (She meant to remove him on Snapchat, but completely forgot.) 

At this point, he knew they had to be dating. So, when the opportunity came to confront Lindsey in Portland, about a month after that memorable game against Utah, he was sure to take it. See, conveniently, the Rush were playing in an invitational hosted by the Thorns’ youth team, and Russell would be there. 

(Lindsey had gotten a message from one of the club’s directors she was still close with telling her they’d be in town, but when the time came, that message had completely slipped her mind.)


	2. during

That Saturday evening, after a long day of watching youth soccer, Russell was ready. He was going to see Lindsey and talk to her, whether she wanted to talk or not. He started to drive to Lindsey’s apartment, but thought to check her location on Snapchat’s map before wasting his time and going all the way there. And much to his chagrin, she wasn’t home. She was at Sonnett’s- of fucking course. (and yes, he knew it was her apartment because Lindsey had to grab something she’d left there during one of his past visits.) So, he made his way over there, rage now threatening to bubble over.

But what Russell didn’t know was that Lindsey had just left Emily’s apartment to go pick up dinner for the two. But since she had last used the app at Emily’s, Snapchat showed her icon at her apartment still.

Suddenly, Emily hears a banging on the door. Startled and somewhat confused (Lindsey had a key and would just call even if she had forgotten it), she made her way toward the door.

“Lindsey, I know you’re in there, open this fucking door!” Russell yelled from the other side.  
“She’s not here, go away you dick!” Emily yelled back, immediately angry, knowing Lindsey had broken things off with Russell a few months ago, making the separation more final this time.

But Russell was far from content with her response. He hadn’t come all this way to just leave.  
“You’re lying, I know she’s in there! Lindsey, we need to talk,” Russell screamed at the door, still pounding on it with his hand.  
Still angry but now also feeling nervous, knowing the angry man on the other side of the door hated her guts, Emily started to back away from the entrance.  
“I mean it, Russell, go away!” Emily mustered, putting all the confidence she could into her voice, not wanting the man to hear her fear.

But he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Suddenly, the door was forced open, and Emily found Russell inside her apartment.  
But with Emily telling the truth about her friend’s presence (or lack thereof), Russell quickly realized his ex-girlfriend wasn’t at the apartment. But he was too angry to just walk away.

Transferring all his rage onto Emily, he quickly made his way towards the girl, now standing in her kitchen, having tried to put some space between the two of them.  
“You stole my girlfriend, you fucking dyke!” Russell screamed while shoving the smaller girl.  
While still overwhelmed with anger, Emily found fear taking over, backing up to get away from the man on instinct. Unfortunately, she quickly found herself trapped between the taller man and the white wall of her kitchen.  
But as scared as she was, Emily was still herself, and she couldn’t keep herself from responding to the man’s words.  
“She’s not yours, SHE broke up with YOU. We’re not even dating, you dick. And it’s not my fault you’re a 40 year-old piece of shit,” Emily retorted with a smirk on her face. 

Apparently that pushed Russell over the edge, because Emily found his hands wrapped tightly around her neck and found herself suddenly struggling to breathe.  
“How fucking dare you talk to me like that, you’re lucky to even have her in your life, I’m surprised she hasn’t realized how childish you are and stopped hanging out with you yet. I’d almost take pity on you if you weren’t so fucking annoying,” Russell screamed in her face, fingers still pressing into the exposed skin of Emily’s throat.

Emily was trying her hardest not to cry, knowing that any signs of weakness would be used against her, and she was still more angry than she had ever been in her life. But her efforts were to no avail- she just couldn’t breathe and she was so, so terrified. ‘Where was Lindsey? She should be back soon,’ Emily thought to herself while hearing her heart pounding in her ears. 

Trying desperately to get him to let go of her, Emily spits in his face. Shocked, he does let go, but not without backhanding her so hard her head bounced off the wall. Waves of pain overwhelming her, feeling blood from cuts made from the rings on his hand run down her face, Emily sank to the floor of her kitchen.

Russell makes no attempt to stop her from doing so- he felt satisfied that he’d gotten his revenge on the younger girl for stealing his girlfriend.

Emily thought that that meant he would leave, silently praying he would just go, but she wasn’t so lucky.

Crouching down to be eye level with her, Russell grazed his hand over Emily’s leg, moving it up to caress her thigh before cupping her face. As much as she wanted to, Emily just didn’t have the strength to fight back anymore, only shuddering involuntarily at his touch.  
“You know, all of this could’ve been avoided if you had just gotten some good dick. Hmm, what a shame. This is all your fault,” Russell whispered in her ear in a sickenly sweet tone.  
“That’ll teach you to not take what’s mine,” he continued menacingly.

Spitting in his face once, Emily found the strength to make one more comeback.  
“She’s not yours, and she will never be yours,” she said while staring into his eyes.

Anger reignited, Russell prepared to continue his attack, but was interrupted by Lindsey rushing into the apartment.  
“What the fuck?!” Lindsey yelled, quickly pulling her ex off of her best friend, simultaneously terrified and outraged by the scene in front of her. 

Before he could get up, Lindsey kicked him once in the stomach and once in his private area, wanting desperately to hurt Russell like he had hurt her best friend.

As soon as he could, Russell got up and ran out of the apartment, running away like a little bitch.  
Everything in Lindsey’s body was screaming at her to run after him and continue giving him a taste of his own medicine. If not that, she knew she should really call the police.

But before she could do either of those things, she noticed just how hard Emily was crying, still sitting in the spot she had sunken to on her kitchen floor. She hadn’t seen them in person before, but from the way Emily was struggling to breathe and was rocking herself back and forth, Lindsey had a feeling the smaller blonde was having a panic attack.

Having no clue what to do for her best friend, but knowing she had to be there for Emily, Lindsey joined her on the floor, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl and pulling her close.  
“Please, just try to breathe, Em, he’s gone now. I’m so sorry, Em, I’m so, so sorry,” Lindsey repeated while Emily let her tears flow, Lindsey crying silently herself.  
After about a half hour spent crying on the tile floor of her apartment, Emily was exhausted, falling asleep with her head leaning on Lindsey’s chest.  
Lindsey had hoped to clean off the blood from Emily’s face and ask the girl what had happened while she was gone, but she didn’t have the heart to wake up the troubled girl. 

Knowing she had the strength to carry Emily, Lindsey moved the smaller girl to her messy bedroom, laying her softly on the bed. Normally, Lindsey would’ve moved to go sleep on the couch, but she had a feeling that she shouldn’t leave Emily alone tonight. So, she changed into some of Emily’s comfier clothes, lying down on the opposite side of the bed. 

Her mind was still racing with anger, fear, and deep concern, but, knowing she couldn’t do anything about those things until the morning, Lindsey just held Emily close, feeling like her tight hold was all she could do to protect her.

**Author's Note:**

> don't hate me...  
> and yes I named this after humpty dumpty


End file.
